Paulo Coelho

Imagine, I would like not only to get a piece from Wikipedia, but also to find out what the author actually writes about.

Read...

Le magnifique
Estimate, I read all the letters that are written in the first post, but did not find an explanation of what the author writes about and in what genre.

KeFEAR
Coelho is a kind of guru for today's intelligentsia, middle class and youth. It is hard to imagine the Moscow metro without a cute young lady with a small white book by Coelho in her hands. It is hard not to be touched by the statement of the NTV journalist about his colleagues: "They even read Coelho." In a copy of the book, which I got by chance and already had several readers, the most valuable phrases were even underlined, just copy it right away, hang it on the wall and read it in the morning. The annual Moscow book exhibition also took place without the indefatigable Brazilian.

The interest in Coelho is quite understandable. The human soul is impossible without talking about higher matters, God, mysticism. A person wants to be explained to him himself, simply, accessible and at the same time sublime. What is the secret of human existence? How does God care for us? What is the sense of life? How to find your way? These questions are asked by young and old, believers and non-believers. People need conversations, books on such topics. And what do they get in return for their thirst?

To begin with, in our daily lives, belief structures become quite shaky. Due to various reasons (lack of religious upbringing and education; personal aspirations; general cultural atmosphere), a person refuses a strict religious system and independently forms an acceptable combination of various, often unrelated, religious postulates and principles. Thus, people build themselves separate, self-contained, belief systems. In the self-contained system of Christianity, you can believe whatever you want. Therefore, pagan ideas, various superstitions, theosophical "truths", the dogmas of Christianity, belief in karma, reincarnation, horoscopes, evil eye, magic often coexist in the head of one person. Such a person calmly listens to the idea that all religions are the same,

In our country, which is often referred to as “Orthodox” (albeit multi-confessional), most people have little idea of ​​the basic truths of Christianity, do not know the Bible, do not go to church, but consider themselves Orthodox. A paradox: a person does not want to read the Bible, does not want to read a textbook of dogmatic theology or the works of the Fathers of the Church, but with pleasure swallows books of dubious content and expects that he will partake of some truth.

Alchemy is a secret knowledge, the destiny of the initiates, while The Alchemist is published in millions of copies. Times have changed? “I learned that the task of achieving the Great Creation is not before a select few, but before all who inhabit the Earth,” the author writes in the preface. There are no forbidden topics for modern culture, it absorbs the secret and the obvious, it turns a unique phenomenon into a mass one, it replicates the mystery and the mystery does not always become less attractive. Or maybe this is another game, this time in alchemy, modern culture loves to play, and you won’t understand how seriously.

Coelho does not hide that he writes about alchemy, esoteric ideas are smoothly woven into the narrative and side by side with the mention of God and Christian stories. It is difficult for an uneducated person to understand that this will not be about Christianity, that this will not be a modernized interpretation of the Bible (I have met such a review) and not a gospel parable. Although, is such a distinction really important to a modern person? In our world, where all sorts of boundaries, moral, religious, cultural, are diligently blurred, where a person invents a system of beliefs for himself, in a world more than ever striving for globalization and unification, is there a difference about which God to read? Perhaps the main thing is not God, which is discussed in this book, but the reader himself, such, alas, is the consumer egoism of the present era. And let there be any God (“If He exists at all”, someone will add. Atheists have not been canceled).

But whatever the "Alchemist" is - a game, a literary phenomenon, an act of "alchemical enlightenment", we will nevertheless try, without succumbing to general rejoicing, to understand what kind of truths are offered to us for daily use.

Statements that contradict Christianity about the unity of the world and God (“Do not forget that everything in the world is one whole.” “The world is just a visible part of God”), that a person can become God (“And the young man plunged into the Soul of the World, and saw that it is only a part of the Soul of God, and the Soul of God is his own soul”), that, having risen to a certain level, one can manipulate the sacred, about chosenness and individualism (“Own Path”, “Own Way” in counterbalancing the Christian idea of ​​catholicity: God “desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4), and so on.

In general, there are topics for a theological article, but I would not like to bother an unprepared reader. I want to point out one thing. Have you ever wondered why this book became so popular? Would I even say this "sweet" book? The answer is simple: it affirms faith in man. Modern man, who first lost faith in God, then (which is quite natural) lost faith in himself. But instead of looking for God, he is looking for man. A man who himself could become God, who could perform miracles, who could own, command the world and its secrets. “Every person on earth, whatever he does, plays a major role in the history of the world,” such a flattering, such a flattering statement, the apotheosis of the elevation of man. Yes, man is the beloved child of the Lord, he is created in His image and likeness, he is his co-worker, interlocutor, in the name of love for man, God himself became a man, went to humiliation and death. But let us not forget that it was man who committed the fall into sin. And a person must be aware of how to behave in front of a loving, but devoted Father. Again performing the "feat" as in the Garden of Eden, daring the forbidden fruit, where will it lead? Such is the summary. Think, search, meditate. Be strict with the prophets. ©

Hear it for the first time...

The whole Moscow involved ...

philosophy for people < 16
although there are interesting things

"The Book of the Warrior of Light" (1997)
Yeah... I finally found the Soldier's Handbook. Now I can get his power. Tremble infidel pro-Westerners, the end is near!!!

I will analyze this topic tomorrow and express my opinion. The first impression is not bad, very good, especially for a person who gravitates toward Christianity (without rebuilding the inner world and faith, become smarter)
Afftar, is there a link to excerpts from his works?

“The most profound changes in the human soul and in human life always happen to people when they suddenly find themselves in the face of love, death or power. Moreover, these changes occur in a very short time. At the moment when we least expect it, life challenges us to test our courage and our desire for change; and does not allow us to pretend that nothing is happening, or to excuse ourselves by saying that we are not ready yet ...
The challenge must be answered immediately. Life doesn't look back. A week is more than enough time to decide whether we accept our fate or not...”
http://bookz.ru/authors/koel_o-paulo.html

Read this publicist. Briefly, clearly and with a share of fiction. Well, it’s quite interesting. Special thanks for the Alchemist. Well, just 10 out of 5.

A pitiful plagiarist, unable to come up with anything on his own... Spoiled and opposited really brilliant ideas... real... great people...
Lifetime anrespect... I hope that this creature will die soon...

so far I have only read it in my life .... do you think you have lost a lot?

Yes... you are a deeply unhappy person... and life has passed you by...
I feel sorry for such people... sorry... (=

In Resident Evil 4, zombies often yell something similar to "Coelho" ..) you can also see it ..

I didn't like Eleven Minutes. And the rest yes.

The Alchemist is an amazing book! I read it overnight! There are no words right!!! Awesome!!!!

A normal, deservedly selling author, why are you driving him?
Personally, I did not receive any revelations from his books either.
But everything is better than the promoted Castaneda.

An idol for housewives and brainless glamorous fools who seek to show their education. Read Nietzsche. Coelho is pop

A Nietzsche type for the elite?
If so, then do not sit on the playground, but visit elite forums for intellectuals. :-)
In any case, I like Coelho simply for his beautiful style and way of expressing thoughts, and even then not in all books.
But to look for a revelation in his work - God forbid. Then I'd better re-read Dunno on the Moon.

Coelho is better than Nietzsche. Nietzsche is annoying. At least me.